Me Vs the Mountain

Yesterday was a bit of an adventure. I finished work in the early afternoon and headed up Whistler with Andrew (our newly acquainted pommy next-door neighbour) We did a few powder lines, followed by a few tree runs and all was going well. Andrew spotted a single track off piste in the trees and we decided to check it out. The powder was waist deep, and after riding through some trees I was already questioning our decision to go there.

There was no real path and the trees were pretty dense. There didn't appear to be a decent line. Andrew pushed on and I followed. Then it got hell steep really quickly and we were flying through thick forest. I came to a ledge and had to grab onto a tree to slow myself down. It was too late to turn back, there was no way we could trek back up through waist deep snow on the side of the mountain. So I went for it. I saw the ledge more clearly as I approached and I shit myself. The first drop was about 3 meters. I swear I closed my eyes as I threw myself down. I made it, stunned and a bit rattled. I turned once and just as I had recovered mentally, there was a second cliff. This one was about 4 meters and it had a rock face. I thought I was in alot of trouble, but I had no choice but to drop down. Again I closed my eyes and hoped for the best. I made it, no injuries but as I dropped into the powder, I set off a mini avalanche. Shit myself again.

The scary stuff was behind us, we were both ok, but now we had to find a path to get down. We were still really high up and it was steep and trees were everywhere. I could see across to Blackcomb and it looked like we were headed into the valley between the 2 mountains. We slowly made it down. Turn by turn, heaps of faceplants and stacks. Lots of stuck boards, branches, logs and drop offs that you don't see until you fly off the end of them. We were doubting we would find a path out and it was getting frustrating....

But then we found something. A man made sign in the middle of the forest. We found a cat track. YEAH!!!! After surveying the area we decided which way to head, and then we saw that it was a 4.5 km hike back to Whistler along the track. It wasn't steep anymore, the track traversed along the side of the mountain, very slowly going downhill. We rode a tiny bit and tobogganed on our boards but mostly hiked back in thigh deep snow. Not pleasant.

It was getting dark, we nearly fell into a couple of creeks which again we couldn't see until we were almost in them. I was riding for a few hundred meters until I got stuck and had to unstrap my bindings. I had one leg out, and as I tried to stand up my free leg sunk into deep snow. I twisted awkwardly as I fell in. My left leg which was still strapped in took the impact and my knee twisted, shit it was painful.

The hike back was long, and tiring but after some time, we heard a lift running in the distance. We finally made it to a clearing and were able to ride down part of a run down to Whistler village. We could see all of the lights. We had travelled almost 3/4 of the way down the mountain by this stage and it was only a 200 meter ride down to the village. I couldn't believe we made it.

We started the descent at 2:15pm and made it to the village in the dark at 5:35pm. Beer time. A bit spooked but feeling pretty good. A day later, and my knees are screwed and I can't walk very steadily but I should be ok after a few days off.

KAT OUT.